Draft observations, Fox, March 9, 1997

Everybody did a good job. Some owners did better than others but 
as a group I think we drafted the best players available. I 
think everybody is in contention, but the teams I like best are 
the Ballbusters, the Muskrats, the Foxes, and the Mazin's. The 
Panzas too, if all their injury risks (Gonzalez, Walker, 
Lankford, RJohnson, PSchourek) come through. The Rangers could 
also surprise. As always, it'll come down to who's hot, who's 
not, who's healthy, who's injured, who gets run support, who 
gets save opportunities. Here's hoping injuries are kept to a 
minimum and are no factor. 

The draft itself ...

First few picks were predictable. 

Thought Burks (Hans) was a reach at pick 4, since he only had 
the one good year, but if he duplicates it then its a 
justifiable pick.

Willo grabs two of the best firstbasemen with picks 9 and 10. I 
think it might be better to just take one of em and address a 
need elsewhere, say at catcher with Piazza.

Andy gets Piazza at pick 11. You could make an argument for 
taking Norristown's own Mike P number 1. I still find it hard to 
believe that the Dodgers drafted this guy in the final round, as 
a favor to his father's friend Tommy Lasorda. How could somebody 
this good get past all those scouts. I think this might be a 
valid argument for the existence of God, because such a thing 
could never happen in a universe that just evolved naturally. 
Mazin'. 

Fox starts a short run of middle infielders with pick 12, 
Larkin. 

In the middle of the middle infielder run, John takes Bichette 
at pick 14. Hope he's healthy.

Albert opts to go with the injured AL MVP, ta da da daaaa Juan 
Martinez, uh I mean Juan Hernandez ... duh make that Juan 
Gonzalez; letting me take Sammy Sosa at pick 25.  Ask me 
sometime about the phone call I got from Al about his pick. 

Between picks 23 and 34 we take 6 3rd basemen.

Willo takes Cal Ripken at pick 28, a fitting tribute to 
baseball's ambassador, but a small stretch me thinks. Too bad we 
don't have a consecutive games played category. 

TAP takes the first starting pitcher with pick 37, Maddux of 
course. Willo follows with Kevin Brown, at 45, surprising me. 
Had hoped to get Brown a little bit later but can't argue with 
the pick or the timing.

I like Hans' pick of Vizquel at pick 51.  Not many great middle 
infielders left, but Omar could steal a bundle of bases.  

A bit of a run on relief pitchers starts with Gabe's pick 52 
John Wetteland. Ten of the next 18 picks are relief. Some 
owners (Gabes and Sobo) have three RPs already. Only TAP 
abstains from the frenzy, and he ends the draft with only one 
reliever, and a lock on last place in Saves unless he can pull 
off a trade or find an overlooked gem on the waiver wire.

At this point the action shifted to OF and SP, with some great 
players at both positions still available. When I gave Andy my 
79th pick (very happy to get Lance Johnson at that point, 
although it closed me at OF) he told me who he intended to take 
next (DBell and RSanders) so I told him my next pick would be 
(pick 84) JConine. This way he could jump right to Albert after 
getting Willo's picks ... you all know the routine. Since Conine 
was OF-1B and in my opinion there were lots of better OFs 
available but no better 1Bs, and Andy and Willo were both full 
at 1B, I was confident I would get Conine for my 1B slot. Then 
Andy calls me back and tells me that after the Willo tried to 
take 2 or 3 OFs who had already been drafted, he settled on 
Conine! Snaked by the Hogman! 

Sobo takes Andy Benes at pick 107. Our first casualty, as he 
pulled something the other day and is out 4-6 weeks.

Andy gets Cone and Clemens with picks 101 and 116. Gambles, but 
good gambles. Why didn't he follow it up with Saberhagen and 
Gooden?

Speaking of Andy, what's with the 5 relievers??? He's a sly one. 
I had mentioned to him that it might be a good idea to take all 
relievers in this league, and he lobbyed for the 600 Innings 
Pitched rule that we put in just prior to the draft, to prevent 
someone from using this approach. During the draft he asks me on 
the phone what I thought of his Wagner pick, so I told him I'd 
be worried about Hudek getting the saves. Later in the draft, as 
I'm figuring I'll take Hudek myself in about round 19 or so, he 
drives all the way to Downingtown, plies me with strong beer, 
regals me with stories of some baseball play about Alexander 
Hamilton that he's recently seen, confuses me with umpire test 
multiple choice questions, and when my guard is down asks me 
point blank if I'm going to take any more relievers. I thought I 
maintained a poker face but I must have blinked cause after 
studying my face he announced "so you are, aren't you" and then 
he grabbed Hudek the next chance he got. Out Foxed by a 
Doormat!! 

Pickings got a little slim towards the end ... the Straw Man? 
Kevin Ritz (bye bye ERA)? D Nulty? Dave Martinez (the 
journeyman?), RHelling (he's mine but why?), SAvery (save a 
waiver move for this over-rated over-pitched disaster waiting to 
happen Willo - he killed me at the end of last season). 

I do think there were some potential gems taken down the 
stretch. I like Clark, Hampton, Jones and Schourek as late 
pitching picks.  Also like Luis Castillo as the final 2B taken 
... he could bomb out but he also could steal 50 bases. 
Garciaparro was destined for Andy's roster from the minute we 
opened the door to the AL teams for the draft, and could be a 
good one. And as I mentioned above, I think Hudek is the closer 
in the Astrodome, if he's healthy.

That's all I got.

Fox